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Monday, May 13, 2013

Previous posts have outlined the very bad effects of the same sex marriage legislation being considered by the Minnesota Senate today. Those posts have already pointed out that the "fig leaves" lightly pasted on the legislation - the religious exemption and the use of the term "civil marriage" - will not fix the basic problems with same sex marriage. Yet another proof of this is the history of same sex marriage in other states. A striking example is Catholic Charities of Boston, an organization which no one would describe as "conservative", and which for 100 years or more included placing children for adoption as part of its charitable work.

So how did same sex marriage affect this charity, which has never performed marriages? The effect was simple and devastating: it shut them down as an adoption agency. In 2005 the Roman Catholic Church insisted that Catholic Charities of Boston cease placing children for adoption with same sex couples (which it had done for 15 years) and follow the church's moral and religious teachings. Catholic Charities of Boston (itself a rather liberal social service agency) was caught between its church and its state. They asked the State of Massachusetts for permission to continue their work from the state in a way that did not violate their beliefs. The answer was "no". So Catholic Charities of Boston ceased the "pre-adoption" work of their agency.

This example is instructive because it shows the effect of same sex marriage legislation on a religious organization which no one would consider conservative. In fact, the (now former) director of Catholic Charities of Boston resigned for the stated reason that the Vatican's directive contradicted their single adoption criteria, the "best interest of the children". The former director, Mr. Meade, is of course entitled to his opinion, but one obvious point would be that Christianity, Western Civilization, and the vast majority of religions around the world do not and have not considered homosexuality and same sex marriage in the "best interest of the children". This is one reason why, today, liberals, leftists and radicals are consistently mocked when they claim that their program should be carried out "for the children".

So how would a religious exemption clause from performing same sex marriage in the Minnesota legislation protect similar charities in that state which do not perform marriages? The answer would be that it cannot, which would leave the more liberal agencies (many of whose names have a Christian denomination in front of "Social Services") caught between their church and their state. But for those charities and social service organizations that take the teaching of their church seriously (or are forced to do so by their sponsoring religious group), the consequences would be much more dire. Same sex marriage law combined with other laws (like fair housing accommodation) would allow those who are intolerant of traditional morality to persecute them and put them out of business. This would include the litigious, the intolerant, and those who sympathize with them in various state, county and local agencies.

The experience with same sex marriage in other states shows us that it will not be just churches and their affiliates in the crosshairs. And charities which are not affiliated with any church or religion may fare much worse. The attacks on the Boy Scouts have already shown us what happens to those groups that are not religious and insist on a simple traditional moral code that includes a belief in God and the rejection of homosexuality.

Sunday, May 12, 2013

The same sex marriage legislation that the Minnesota House has sent to the Senate was passed after adding two elements: a religious "exemption" from performing same sex marriages, and the addition of the term "civil", as in "Civil Marriage", apparently between two individuals of the same sex.

We already know that in states which already have same sex marriage (usually by judicial fiat, and in some cases by legislature) the first organizations that find themselves under attack by state regulators and plaintiffs lawyers are churches and church organizations. Catholic Charities of Boston after 100 years of placing children in homes for adoption was forced to close its doors after same sex marriage was allowed in Massachusetts. Because of the moral position of their church which objected to homosexuality (and therefore same sex marriage) Catholic Charities asked for a narrow exemption from placing children with same sex couples. The state's response was a resounding "no". The same thing is happening now in Illinois, which has passed legislation allowing adoption by same sex couples.

Ocean City, New Jersey, a unique association and city affiliated with the Methodist Church refused a request from a lesbian couple to be married on their property. To do so would violate Methodist Church law. The lesbian couple litigated using New Jersey's same sex marriage law combined with the legal theory of public accommodation, and succeeded in having the tax exemption of the religious association that owned Ocean City revoked. Owners of private businesses, such as the devote Roman Catholic proprietors of the Montpelier Inn in Vermont, were charged with violating Vermont's Fair Housing and Public Accommodations Act. Of special interest in this instance is that the owners of the inn did not refuse a lesbian couple's request to host a civil union reception. Their "crime" was to express their religious conviction about same sex marriage in suggesting they might not be the best venue for the event.

Even in states which reject same sex marriage moral and religious objectors to the idea are subjected to persecution by proponents of the idea. After the passage of California's famous proposition 8, which enshrined traditional marriage in their constitution, Mormons were targeted by the proponents of gay marriage in retaliation for their support of the measure, along with other churches, pastors, and moral and religious individuals and organizations. In the last days of the campaign, same sex marriage supporters paid for a series of television ads accusing Mormons of having "too much wealth" which they used to "overly influence" the government. The parallels to anti-semitic propaganda used by neo-nazi and white supremacist groups is striking, and its use against a particular religious group should be a warning.

Should this legislation become law in Minnesota, the same will happen here, even with the "religious exemption" and "civil marriage" clauses. Religious organizations, such as adoption agencies, will find themselves persecuted when they follow their moral and religious precepts. Public school teachers and other government employees will face discipline or dismissal for holding to their moral or religious convictions about marriage. And an exemption based on religious conviction should terrify all individuals and citizens who hold moral convictions based on natural law, reason, history or common sense about marriage. Why would a religious association be necessary for exemption? Why is the moral objection of the individual citizen not enough? But they will have no exemption.

Please urge the Minnesota Senate to vote down this legislation. See the previous post for their contact information.

The Minnesota State Senate is scheduled to consider the same sex marriage legislation passed by the Minnesota House last week. I have already written to as many state senators as I could to express my opposition to this legislation, and I would encourage you all to do the same. The contact information for the Senate is here:

That .csv file is crude, but the email address works for all but about 10 senators. The first link above also includes an ascii text file under the "labels" tab.

Below is the text of the email I sent. I encourage you to write your own, but if this inspires you, feel free to use what you can. Make sure you are civil, polite, decent, courteous and respectful. Short and to the point is also good, and a simple sentence or two expressing your hope that they will vote against this legislation would be just fine.

It is my understanding that the Senate will soon
consider the same sex marriage legislation recently passed by the
House. Having spent some amount of time reading and looking into HF
1054, SF 925, and the proposed revisions, amendments and impact of the
legislation the Senate may produce, I would like
you to consider voting against the version of this bill that reaches
your chamber. You may be mistaken in believing that the narrow failure
of the marriage amendment last November indicates support for such
legislation, and even a majority of support by Minnesotans. I would ask
you to consider this: if next election sees a proposed constitutional
amendment enshrining same sex marriage as constitutional, would it in
fact pass? Or would it fail by an even greater percentage than its
opposite in the last election?

I also believe I understand the good intentions of those who have
amended the legislation by inserting language and categories such as
"civil" marriage and "Exemptions based on Religious Association".
Unfortunately, these efforts do not make the bill acceptable. Because
it proposes something that is unprecedented and opposed by so many
Minnesotans and Americans, the need for such an exemption is troubling.
Will the vast number of Minnesotans who consider same sex marriage
wrong, unnatural, and destructive of family, society, state and country
need to ask the state's permission under this law to continue their
opposition? Would it make any difference if this opposition were not
religious in nature, much less Christian? The use of the word "civil",
while also well meant, does not seem to sufficiently clarify or lessen
the enormous confusion, uncertainty and indecision this legislation will
unleash.

The arguments I have heard for this legislation appear to be largely
emotional, and based on an individual's supposed "right" to "love
whomever they want". If that argument is valid as the supporters of
this legislation seem to believe, then I suppose we could change
"whoever" to "whatever", of any age, condition, or species, singular or
plural. If you pass this, you will owe polygamists (including some
Mormons, Muslims, and others) an apology for decades and centuries of
criminalizing their love. Many of us love our money, and would like to
be married to it, but our governor and your chamber now consider denying
us the right to keep all - or at least more - of what we love. If you
detect some (little) humor in that, you are right, but the point is that
emotion and a supposed claim to an invented right of some kind is a
terrible basis for legislation. It's also destructive of a genuinely
ordered civil society where morality and reason can consider what is
right and wrong as well as the consideration of good and evil, virtue
and vice.

I appreciate your time. Should you, or your staff, wish to contact me, feel free to do so using the information on this email.

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A blog dedicated to the significant and timely issues related to the Friends of University Lutheran Chapel, Minneapolis, Minnesota. What you see here is an outgrowth and continuation of two other sites, http://www.2Realms.com and http://www.FriendsOfULC.org.